“Enough.” Shari snapped her fingers. The dogs immediately backed away from him and flanked her, their noses testing the air. “They’re a little overloaded because they’re in a new environment. I want to give them time to comprehend their surroundings.”
“You know what they’re thinking?”
She chuckled. The sound sliced through his skin and went straight to his nerves. “I wouldn’t call it
thinking.
They pretty much operate on well-developed instinct. Maco?”
Say my name again.
“What?”
She looked around. “I didn’t realize how big this operation is. I should have, but—I’m impressed.”
“So am I,” he admitted. “Jason and I have worked a number of large projects, but this is our first dam.”
“Then how do you know what you’re doing?”
“Simple. We follow the engineers’ blueprints and specs.”
“It’s more than that. It has to be.”
“Correct.” He was surprised at his ability to hold up his end of the conversation. “Getting the right manpower working for us is a key element. So is a broad understanding of construction. That said, at this point it’s pretty basic. Right now we’re doing the ground preparation, something we have expertise in. Once that’s done, they’ll bring in experts who’ve worked with dams before, and we’ll follow their lead.”
“Oh.” Her tone said she knew things were even more complex than he’d alluded to but wasn’t sure she wanted to go there. Neither did he.
“How’s your day going?” he asked. She was an intriguing mix of competence and subtle femininity, a modern woman with a primal body.
“Busy. Same as yours, I imagine.”
“They’re all busy.”
Damn it, come up with something better than that!
“What about what happened yesterday? Have you heard anything from the sheriff’s department?”
“Not a word.” She tucked her hands in her back pockets. The maybe unconscious gesture pushed her breasts against her top and reminded him—as if he needed reminding—of what he wanted to do to and with her. “It’s been peaceful except for my having to call a couple of pups away from a skunk just as I was loading up these dogs. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“I’m glad. Really glad. One day of excitement’s enough, right?”
“Right.”
“You don’t sound particularly convinced. Are you sure it’s back to normal?”
“Whatever normal is,” she muttered.
Good thing her hands were out of reach. Otherwise, he’d be tempted to grab them and pull her against him. Ask her if she really had a handle on her emotions. Take her past memories of what had happened to Ona.
When she tilted her head, it occurred to him that she was waiting for him to say more. Unfortunately his cock was the only part of his anatomy engaged in dialoguing with his brain. Damn it, the woman turned him on.
Was that all? He was horny and she came equipped with the anatomical part capable of handling his horniness? Throw in a slender but strong form and big eyes and he wanted nothing else from life?
If only.
Silence enveloped Shari, making her both uneasy and unnerved. Granted, silence wasn’t the operant word, thanks to the lumbering machinery mostly below the level area where they were standing, but neither she nor Maco was saying anything. Probably he was waiting for her to launch into educating him about Bruce and Tucker, although maybe he thought she’d be more interested in the dam’s construction or the horses.
Neither of those things mattered.
Maco was male with the stereotypical capital M. No way could she convince her body otherwise. This macho place was his world. He belonged here, understood it, accepted it. No urban high-rise office for him. Instead, he piloted the massive red-and-blue helicopter waiting a short distance away that made her think of a Pterodactyl. He’d climb into the powerful machinery and bring it to life. Under his direction, the great, awkward-looking beast would lift off and reach for the sky. Whatever he commanded of it, it would perform. Gracefully. Perfectly.
That’s how he’d handle her—a competent and confident man guiding her to that place where modesty no longer lived. Under his guidance, she’d eagerly hand her body to him, surrender. Scream out her climax and welcome his cum into her core.
Lightheaded and unnerved, she struggled to remember how to breathe. As she filled her lungs, she looked away so hopefully he couldn’t read the truth of her thoughts. She had to get the conversation going, somehow. Remember what it meant to be a civilized woman.
“What’s that on the side of the helicopter?” she managed. “Some kind of design?”
“A painting. Of a rearing horse.”
“Oh?”
Go on, think!
“It’s our logo for Mustang Construction.”
“Of course.”
Keep it going. Make the words flow.
She shielded her eyes from the sun. Mostly black against the helicopter’s silver side, the profile was of a horse with its forelegs reaching for the sky and its muscled hind legs effortlessly balancing its weight. “Now I see it. My goodness, it’s detailed. Did you create it?”
“Not me. My mother’s the artist in the family.”
He had a family, parents, siblings. A life she longed to know more about. At first the puffs of dust coming from the so-called road she’d driven on to get here didn’t register. Then, maybe because the dust had caught Maco’s interest, she paid attention.
The approaching vehicle was an older blue pickup. Its height from the ground identified it as a four-wheel drive with oversized macho tires and a large unpainted metal front bumper that looked like it belonged on a tow truck. It fairly screamed
redneck.
Two men were in the cab. Another two rode in the bed.
“Damn,” Maco muttered. The hackles rose on the dogs’ backs.
“What is it?” she asked. She tapped her thighs to indicate she wanted the dogs back by her sides.
“The opposition. Look, the best thing is for you to either get in your vehicle or wait in my office until I get rid of these guys.”
Alerted to his take-charge tone, she touched his shoulder. Even with the truck closing the distance, her attention shifted to what she’d just done. His shoulder was every bit as solid as she’d thought it would be, and the heat and energy radiating from him sent more of the same throughout her. Maybe he’d had the same reaction because his gaze locked on her hand. His nostrils flared.
She opened her mouth. So did he. For what felt like a long time, neither of them spoke. Then he said, “I’m serious. These guys are hard-nosed.”
Forcing herself to remove her hand took all of her concentration. “How do you know?” she finally came up with.
“This isn’t the first time that truck’s been here. It looks as if Roe has brought reinforcements.”
“The first time—was it confrontational?”
“Let’s say it wasn’t friendly.”
The pickup rocked to a stop a short distance away. All four men stared at Maco and her. They didn’t move. If dust from the gravel road bothered the two in back, they gave no indication. One scratched at a sideburn.
“I mean it,” Maco warned. He hooked his thumbs over his holster, making her think
gunslinger.
“Go where it’s safe.”
Instead, she snapped her fingers, which immediately brought the two dogs’ heads up. Their stances widened and their tails straightened. “What about them? This is why you wanted protection, right?”
“Yeah.” He spoke through clenched teeth. “What would they do?”
“Whatever I tell them to.”
“Attack?”
“If necessary.”
“No wonder you don’t carry a gun. Damn it. We don’t need this.”
Noting that he’d positioned himself so he was between her and the truck, she fought the impulse to touch him again. She was used to watching her own back, had learned that lesson before she’d learned how to read. Maco didn’t have to think he had to take over that responsibility, yet he had.
“There’s a gun rack in the cab,” she pointed out unnecessarily. “And two rifles in the rack. They can’t seriously—”
“Who knows what Roe and his
friends
want? The sheriff warned me that he’s both determined and unpredictable.”
A sharp creaking alerted her to the opening truck doors. Roe—she guessed he was the driver—was heavyset with a beer belly, in need of a shave and wearing baggy worn jeans and cracked boots. His T-shirt had once been white. Although the three other men weren’t as heavy, their clothing was similar. Their deeply tanned faces and forearms let her know they spent much of their days out-of-doors. Any other time she might have admired their blue-collar strength and determination. Bruce and Tucker growled.
“What’s that?” Maco asked.
“They’re picking up on our tension.”
“Damn it,” he muttered. “Why didn’t you leave?”
Because I’m not the terrified child I once was.
“I want to hear what they have to say. I need to.”
Roe squared himself so he was facing Maco. However, his attention was split between her and the dogs. “What’s this?” He jerked his head at the Dobermans.
“What do you think it is?” Maco’s tone, although calm, held a warning undertone. “What brought you here? You said you were done talking.”
“I am,
cowboy
.” Roe’s dry lips lifted as he jerked his head at Maco’s revolver. “There’s nothing wrong with my showing my friends around, right?
You
don’t own the land.”
The way Maco shook his head said he was already weary of the conversation. “It’s federal land, Roe. You know that.”
“And I’m a taxpayer. Also, I’ve got more land than most people, which means my taxes count more than yours. Or hers.”
Damn Roe! He was undressing her with his eyes, as were the three clones planted behind him. If there was one thing she hated, it was being treated like a sexual object. Telling herself that they were doing so in an attempt to either anger or intimidate her didn’t help. Surely they didn’t consider themselves God’s gift to women.
“Your beef isn’t with me.” Maco’s eyes all but drilled holes in Roe. “You and I have been over this before, same as you heard from the courts. The legal objections have been presented and decided on. The dam’s a go.”
“Because those fuckin’ judges are being paid off,” one of the other men insisted. He didn’t take his attention off the dogs. “Money talks. Dirty money, not what’s needed to keep us ranchers here from being shut out and going bust.”
From what she knew, much of the objection to the dam had come from local ranchers concerned that limitations on what they’d be allowed to draw out of Graves River would leave them without adequate irrigation. She’d initially sympathized with the ranchers’ position until she’d learned that most of the water was earmarked for the vast agricultural, farming, and ranching lands to the south. Realizing how complex water-allocation issues were, she was glad she wasn’t a judge or lawyer.
“I understand your position,” Maco said. “Until you have proof that you’ll still have what water you need, you’re going to be uneasy. But your argument isn’t with me. My job is to help get the dam built. For the record, I believe in the need for it. Otherwise, my brother and I wouldn’t be here.”
The man who’d spoken vigorously shook his head but didn’t say anything more, making her wonder if Roe had been chosen, or had chosen himself, as spokesperson.
“We’re just here to get an idea of what’s actually being done,” Roe said. “Seeing all those graphs and charts and aerial maps isn’t the same as the real thing. Interesting about that fencing.” He jabbed a finger at the cyclone enclosure where a few pieces of machinery were being stored. “Protection against vandalism?”
“You know the answer to that,” Maco said. He hadn’t so much as shifted his weight since the “conversation” had begun. Still, she sensed his awareness of her. That cut both ways. “You don’t want me calling the sheriff.”
“I helped get Bill elected. Campaigned for him. Same as him, I was born in this county.”
“Your point?”
“Just that it’s something you don’t want to forget about. Bill isn’t just a public official. He’s one of us.”
In some respects, the men reminded her of dogs sniffing around each other while deciding whether it was better to bare their teeth or expose their bellies. However, she didn’t need to ponder what was going on between Maco and the newcomers. Hackles were raised all around.
Something else. Having her dogs here evened the score—unless the men went for their rifles and Maco pulled out his gun.
Damn but she hated the things, wished it were different.
“I appreciate the heads-up,” Maco said. “And I have something for you to think about. The sheriff and his deputies have sworn to uphold the law. That’s how they’re able to support their families. Why do you think Sheriff Bill attended the hearings ?”